Unfortunately this doesn’t really scale well for those of us with families (or planning to store lots of leftovers).

However, regarding the underlying idea–that you save energy costs when you minimize the outflow of cold air–how about compartmentalizing the full-size standup fridges?

I mean, they are already more or less compartmentalized with regards to shelving and drawers, but if you make them airtight, then at least when you get a soda out of the bottom drawer it is only the bottom drawer which loses cooled air.

@googfan

I can’t find anything ironic (maybe you meant coincidental? Still can’t find nothing ’bout fridges) on your site.. but your site does make baby jesus cry. Animated titlebar?? Are we back in ’98 again or something?

Yeah, a chest freezer with a thermostat works great as a fridge. I have been using one for about 7 years now to keep my homebrewed beer and yeast at 20C. The compressor barely ever turns on, but my ambient temp is a little higher than yours, 25C-30C in summer.

and yeah, you get the same cooling performances!

@Insipid Melon

Not sure what you mean? These chest freezers come in various sizes – the most common size have just as much if not more space than a typical fridge. You could EASILY fit everything you need in one.

I mean people keep whole human bodies in them – before they are caught anyway!

@cantido

its web 1.0 style. live with it. and i coundnt think of the appropriate word at the time so i typed ironic

The top-loading arrangement certainly helps, but so does (1.) not having a freezer compartment, (2.) having much thicker insulation than most conventional fridges, and (3.) not having an automatic defrost feature. As with most energy-saving schemes, there are trade-offs to be made with this approach.

If that compressor is only running 90 seconds an hour, wouldn’t it make sense to get a smaller compressor thats a tenth of the size? Thats cheaper then…

(and even though a smaller compressor is probably not as efficient, I recon you’d save overall because there is a reasonably large start up cost with a fridge because you’ve got to pump enough coolant to get the pressures everywhere in the system to operating levels)

@cantido
Are you new to the internet? Don’t fall for those blog-ads all over comment sections, just get a freaking greasemonkey script to block people like that instead, and make sure you block the url they spam rather than actually going to it, who needs blogs of such losers.
They annoy the hell out of me and I’d like to know who popularised making meaningless ‘comments’ in comment sections to spam your blogURL, and then once I know to get some tar and feathers and fix that person.

http://www.ecubedistribution.com/

@skibane: Even with a second unit set up as a freezer the author would _still_ be using a lot less energy than a single upright fridge would- and he would have a lot more storage. (Say twice the thermal differential- maybe 300whr/day + the original 100 is only 400whr- less than a normal fridge).

@stunmonkey: I’m not sure “fired” is the right word. Propane powered fridges use the same cooling principle as an electric fridge- the expansion of a compressed gas absorbs heat. Only in the case of a propane fridge- the gas isn’t re-compressed- it’s simply burned off to get rid of it.

Ideally- a wider, shallower, chest fridge is easier to organize- but takes up more room. Fridge drawers found in some higher end kitchens are awesome- but they still lose a LOT of cold air because the insulation is in the walls of the unit- not the drawer that pulls out.

Homebrewers have been doing this for years with modified thermostat kits for lagering.

Got to admit I’m struggling to see the hack-ness in this. I normally dont mind vaguely related stuff but this really is just an efficiency report. Build a controller into it to do maximum cooling at cheap-rate in order to maintain freeze state while minimising compressor runs during expensive rate times, or get it to tweet pointlessly like all the other stupid tweeting white goods, but dont just write a report on its efficiency and post it as a hack!

This hack is 4 years old:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/07/man_retrofits_f.php

Derrrr…compartmentalized refrigerator=side by side, with water and ice thru door??? Freezer drawer on bottom–yes, it lets some cold air out when you open it, but when it is closed, guess how well the bottom of the fridge is insulated?

We have had a Trio for years.

I have seen an upright fridge/freezer combo with a drawer style freezer on the bottom. It helps a bit. There is still huge airflow around the drawer and convection through the now empty cavity.

As for changing the position of a fridge, anytime you tip a freon unit (fridge, freezer, AC) you need to let them sit and settle. This is because they work by changing the state of freon between liquid and gas. Due to the design, when tipped, liquid flows to areas where it can cause damage if turned on. The safe rule is to wait three hours for the liquid and gas to settle after putting the unit upright.

Where does the water condensed from outside air go?

I actually used the Ambigrid Plans to build a solar pales for under $100, as well as a solar water heater for less than $10! I can’t say enough good things about them!